sara's mission call.

^^^Sara was rubbing my belly, so I did what any good sister would do and grabbed her privates. You know how it is.

My baby sister, Sara, got her mission call this week. We had a house full of family and friends, and we ate burgers and Italian sodas and watched Sara open her call. No one knew it then, but Sara had opened it right when it came in the mail (notice the already-opened envelope), and that's why she wasn't super anxious to open it. 

My favorite part is when she says where she's going, and everyone cheers, and then you can hear my siblings laughing at her. She'll be so good there, though, and I'm sure that once she's finished her mission, she'll have a hard time leaving. Sara's really personable, and I think she'll make a really good impression on the people she meets in a small-town area like Kansas. She's so good at relating to people. She leaves in less than 8 weeks, so she won't even get to meet my baby! But I'm so excited for her! She'll do such good things.

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christmas day.

Christmas was yesterday, and it was awesome. We slept in (I know, I know: "Just wait until you have kids"), and opened presents together later in the morning. We had fun with that one, and even made a video. We each got each other a few surprise presents that you'll see in the video if you look really closely. :) After presents, we had a breakfast of gingerbread waffles with honey and raspberries. I think I'll make those again!

Later in the day, we drove up to my parents' house and spent time with my entire family. Two parents, three sisters, three brothers, two (almost three!) sisters-in-law, one brother-in-law, three nephews, one niece, two grandmas, one grandpa, one friend, and a husband. Needless to say, it was a full house, with never a quiet moment. 

We ate some good food, including a ham dinner with potato soup, and opened presents together. We even watched Christmas Oranges with my grandmas. And then, when the house quieted down a little, we drove the long drive home and fell asleep with our faces really close together, talking about how good that day was.

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